Business Pressures
by arcticjordan
Summary: Roxas had always expected working in an office to be a show of endurance, he just didn't expect the work to be easy and instead his colleague to be the problem. Akuroku. Axel/Roxas. Complete.
1. Weird Introductions

**Business Pressures:  
**  
**Disclaimer:** What do you think? If I had really _created _Kingdom Hearts would I seriously be sitting at my laptop writing fanfics about it instead of spending my much deserved earnings from the game series? *Sigh* If only...

---

**Weird Introductions:**

As a fairly unambitious eighteen year old, Roxas Carrey's life turning point took place when he decided to work for a while at Grenville Enterprises mere months after having graduated from Twilight Academy Secondary School.

Justifiably, Roxas continuously told himself that the only reason he was going to be spending 6 months working here was simply for the money and possibly for a reference on his embarrassingly blank resume.

If it weren't for these two factors, Roxas was positive that he'd currently be working part time at a cafe or video-store whilst simultaneously going on to University to further his education, like his friend Pence was doing. His other companion, Hayner, on the other hand, had dropped out of high school at the beginning of their last year, saying that he didn't need a certificate declaring his completion of school when he knew he was just going to start working in his family's local business: the travel agency.

Roxas was really hoping that this would be his big break – and if he worked really hard, then it wouldn't matter that he'd skipped University, as he'd already have a full-time dependable paying job.

He supposed he'd just have to wait until his first day, and then make fantasy-like presumptions later.

---

Roxas had always known that he was fairly... well... short for his age. Barely reaching 165cm in height, he'd always been subconsciously aware of it.

Right now, however, standing in front of an enormous eighty-something storied Grenville Enterprises skyscraper, Roxas scowled, pulled his bag up his shoulder and marched inside towards the reception. Why did everyone and everything always have to boast their grand height over his own?

It took around twenty minutes for Roxas to actually manage to successfully find his way into the correct floor and then winced when he saw the time on a clock he rushed past. He was already ten minutes late to his orientation talk with his boss.

Way to make a good first impression. Roxas irritably sighed as he rushed past a wide expanse of working cubicles and headed into an office with the words _Regional Manager _printed on the door.

The moment Roxas opened the door and stepped inside the relatively cramped office, a voice greeted him.  
"You're late."

Roxas spun around stupidly, until he found the source of the voice. A tall man with ridiculously long, white hair stood in the back corner of the office, disinterestedly flicking through a booklet of some sort.

The blond quickly took a seat opposite the large wooden desk that miraculously managed to fit in the small office.

"It's a big building." Roxas managed weakly.

"If that's your attempt at an excuse I'll ignore it." The man shortly countered, finally looking up at Roxas to glare at him with bright orange eyes. "Well, I'm Xemnas Hudson, the Regional Manager of this district of Grenville Enterprises. In other words, your boss. Make a simple avoidable mistake and you're fired, understand?"  
_  
Something about this guy holds an air of creepiness_. Roxas involuntarily shuddered, "Yes..." he felt an urge to add _sir _as he would have back in high school, but controlled himself.

"Anyway..." Xemnas sat at his desk and switched on his computer monitor, "Onto personal details... name?"

"Roxas Carrey." Roxas answered promptly.

"Nothing unusual there..." Xemnas murmured to himself, whilst quietly tapping away at the keyboard. Roxas raised an inquisitive eyebrow and Xemnas stared vacantly at him, "You'd be surprised at some of the weirdos that apply for jobs here. We do background checks on everybody, just to make sure you're not criminals."

Roxas's stomach impulsively spasmed. What kind of messed up place had he been employed for?

"Next is age..."

Just as Roxas opened his mouth to state his age, the office door behind him swung open, banging loudly in the wall. Roxas nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden and unexpected volume. And just as he started to calm down, he nearly shat himself when he saw who had slammed open the door in the first place.

An incredibly tall, lanky guy leaned on the doorframe, wearing the mandatory suit and tie – though in a completely untidy and noncommittal fashion. The stranger's particular lack of clothing etiquette, however, would have to be one of the last things to receive Roxas's attention. The man had horrifically bright red hair, and not even ginger, because ginger Roxas could (though only barely) tolerate, but red-like-a-fire-truck hair. The blinding mane was styled in long pointing curves, which had been tied back loosely into a ponytail at the nape of the man's neck.

The man, understandably, eventually noticed Roxas staring at him and returned the action with a mocking expression. This was the exact point where Roxas noticed the facial tattoos under the guy's green eyes. Upside down triangles, like a clown.  
_  
Is this one of those ex-criminal employees that Xemnas was talking about? _Roxas thought, _He sure fits the position physically_.

The red head's gaze flicked away from Roxas to Xemnas, "Hey, Mansex, I've got some paperwork for you to have a look at."

Roxas glanced at Xemnas, expecting the man to snap at being called such a name. To his immense surprise, however, his boss simply fixed the man with an aggravated stare.  
"I'm glad to see that you've finally found some small sense of initiative, Axel."

The redhead, whom Roxas now presumed was named Axel, grinned crookedly at Xemnas, "God no. You think I _enjoy _this shit? Good old Mervin told me that I had to do it." He raised his hands defensively, "I had _no _choice in the matter. Anyway... who's the new guy?"

"This is Roxas Carrey, our district's most recent employee." Xemnas introduced shortly, obviously hinting at Axel to leave. His attempts failed and Axel ended up continuing to lean on the doorframe. Roxas inwardly cursed at Xemnas for giving his full name to a potential criminal. He mentally planned to not leave his wallet in the vicinity of the redhead unwatched from that point on.

"Oh, ok. You're getting his personal details, I presume?" Axel remarked, "Don't stop on my behalf."

Roxas again waited for Xemnas to throw Axel out of the office using force, but again, was disappointed. Perhaps his boss was more of a pushover than he first appeared. Then again, Roxas didn't really want to personally test that theory.

"Where were we...?" Xemnas scanned his computer screen quickly, "Oh, age. You do like quite young to be applying for a position here. How old are –"

Axel cut him off with a snort, "He looks young alright. Since when did we start hiring grade-schoolers fresh out of the playground to work here?"

Roxas look fiercely up at the redhead, but when his gaze was returned, swiftly directed his head to look at his shoes, deciding it best to not start an argument with a man who looked capable of taking Roxas out with one punch. Instead, while staring at his shoes, Roxas settled with imagining Axel being repeatedly hit over the head with Xemnas's computer.

"Anyway..." Xemnas continued, "How old are you exactly, Roxas?"

"I'm eighteen." Roxas responded, wisely ignoring the snigger that sounded from the doorway behind him.

After shortly giving Xemnas his home address and telephone number information Xemnas saved Roxas's information and switched off the monitor. He then pinned Roxas with a pitying look. Seconds later Roxas understood why.

"So, Roxas, as you might or might not have already gathered, this is one of your many colleagues, Axel." Axel gave an evasive wave without really paying attention to Roxas, "And here we share cubicles between two people. You'll be _fortunate _enough to be sharing with Axel."

Roxas's jaw physically dropped open at this point in shock. He'd be sharing a work cubicle with... that _freak_?

Axel grinned wickedly at him and said, "Lucky you, kid."

This was when Roxas decided that the world hated him.

---

Roxas liked to think of his and Axel's relationship as an immediate mutual hatred of each other.

After spending 7 hours every weekday sharing a cubicle with the man, Roxas could justified his loathing of the other with these simple reasons:

- Axel never stopped talking. On Roxas's first day he had said it was because he was bored, but when Roxas _politely _asked him to quiet down so he could work, Axel smiled and instead, continued to talk - possibly more so than he had been before.

- Axel's personality. He came across as... wait, no... he didn't even _come across as, _he just _was _arrogant and conceited. Perhaps, if Axel's personality had been a bit more friendly and appealing, then maybe Roxas wouldn't hate him so much for talking (see point one).

- Axel's lack of working ability. Roxas repetitively wondered to himself why on earth a multi-million dollar company would continue to pay a slack employee who literally sat with his feet resting upon his desk all day, disinterestedly watching his _In _stack of paperwork grow bigger and bigger.

- Since Axel didn't spend his work time actually working, he'd instead spend his precious free hours plotting at ways to prank Roxas. So far he'd glued Roxas's desk draws shut, broken his office chair, emailed to his work account a huge amount of porn pop-ups, _accidentally _placed his only copy of a memo into his paper shredder and, when he couldn't think of anything creative enough, would simply settle with frequently throwing balls of paper at the back of Roxas's head while he worked, or flick his ear hard with a rubber band.

- Oh, and possibly the most aggravating reason of all... Axel only referred to Roxas as 'kid' or 'shortie' or 'girl'. And it pissed Roxas off. Only a little though... only enough to make the blond want to shove the end of Axel's tie into his paper shredder and watch the redhead slowly and painfully choke to death in front of him. Yeah, Roxas was a tad cruel like that.

Axel, on the other hand, with his simple mind, only remarked one reason why he hated Roxas. He had said it before he left _early _from work _again _while Roxas was going to have to work late again to catch up on his overdue paperwork that he was unable to complete because of Axel's continuous distractions.

"Hey kid," Roxas determinedly glared at his computer screen, and ignored Axel as he leant one of their cubicle's walls. Roxas made no sign to show that he was listening.  
And then Axel flicked his ear with a rubber band to get his attention. And it hurt. A lot.

"_Ow_! What the hell are you –"

"Anyway, as I was saying..." Axel slouched onto the wall, "You're kinda moody for an eighteen year old. Makes my day that much more depressing when I have to spend it with you. Lighten up, shortie."

And with that, he sauntered away.

"Oh, I'll _lighten _up," Roxas grumbled to himself, "I lighten up so damn fucking bright that you'll be blinded and I exploit you and your poor sight and throw you into a tank full of sharks. Heh."

This is why Roxas didn't talk much.

But then again, seriously, what right did Axel... _Axel _of all people have to give Roxas a heart to heart little advice chat when he himself couldn't even sit still for twenty-odd minutes?  
Insanity.

---

One particular Thursday, Roxas finally snapped.

It had been during one of Axel's long non-stop talking sessions that one particular point had really got under Roxas's skin.

Now, normally, Roxas was easily able to drown out irrelevant babble if the need was really necessary, as he did live with his older brother who often once started talking, wouldn't stop until he either passed out or went to bed.

So, Roxas was in his work refuge, working productively and letting Axel's words wash over him without actually affecting him in any way.

Until...

"It kinda makes my heart break inside, kid," Axel sighed melodramatically, "when I see people like you wasting your life away at a desk when you could be going out there and having a good time. I mean seriously, do you even _know _what a girl is? Have you ever even gotten some? Far out, the fact that we're sharing a goddamn work cubicle means your lack of physical expertise makes _me _look bad."

Roxas spun around, biting the inside of his cheek to stop him from giving into the temptation to strangle the man sitting in front of him, "Could you _shut up_? I don't have time for this."

"Ah ha!" Axel exclaimed, clapping his hands together, "So _that's _why you're not getting any. I'm betting that's your response to any propositions you've been given? _Riiight?_"

"Fucking hell!" Roxas yelled, and stood up with so much force that his chair fell over. Axel raised his fists, as if expecting Roxas to attack him, but then was surprised when the blonde marched off, fuming, out of the cubicle.

Roxas didn't even notice his legs steer him towards Xemnas's office until he had smashed open the door.

"Axel," Xemnas sighed slowly wheeling his chair around to face Roxas, "could you seriously stop doing that to my door? You're going to break... it..." He then noticed Roxas, "Oh, Roxas. Sorry, I just assumed it was Axel. Having trouble with something?"

Roxas snorted, "No. I want to put in a complaint about Axel. He's been distracting me the whole time I've been here. I would really like to move work cubicles."

"Every cubicle is full, Roxas."

"So then switch me with someone else."

"And force them to have to put up with Axel? That's being a little selfish, Roxas, don't you thi-"

"MY GOD!" Roxas bellowed, as Axel crept up behind him to watch the scene unfold from the office doorway, with a little knowing smile in place. "You're meant to be the boss that fires people over ridiculously tiny mistakes! If that's true then why is Axel still employed? He's a nuisance! The whole two weeks I've been here – I haven't seen him glance at one piece of paperwork! Why don't you just fire him?"

Roxas took a few deep breathes and then asked, more calmly, "Why does everyone around here get treated like shit except for Axel?"

Xemnas leant forward, tapping his fingers against his desk. "Well, Roxas, you're a smart boy, but it's quite obvious that you didn't really research Grenville Enterprises for your job interview did you?"

Roxas's cheeks coloured, "I did research though! I learnt about all the districts and the economic-"

Xemnas sighed, "What about the _history _of the business, then?"

"Ah... I wasn't aware that I'd need to know about that."

"Well, if you perhaps had researched that and been paying close attention," Xemnas said smoothly, "You'd notice that the founder of Grenville Enterprises was named Mervin. He fathered a daughter called Julie Grenville, who married Tony Miller and had a child..."

Roxas visibly paled and knew where this was going, even before Xemnas said it. "Axel is, in fact, the heir to Grenville Enterprises. The only reason many don't know this is because of his last name. His grandfather... Mervin, is currently running the business."

_Mervin... _Roxas thought, _That sounds familiar...  
"Good old Mervin told me that I had to do it."_

Xemnas watched for Roxas's reaction across the table, "Mervin is determined for Axel to take over his place to run the business when he dies. That's why he's employed here... that's why he's never been fired."

Roxas couldn't help but wonder, _If he's so important then why does he have such a low-positioned job?_

Before he asked that, however, he remembered why he was here in the first place.  
_Well, shit, you're in it deep now, telling him to fire the heir of the company, so what more do you have to lose?  
_"Who _cares_?" Roxas growled, "Just because he's royalty to the company doesn't mean he can just do whatever the _hell _he wants! I'm a good worker and you know that, boss! I deserve better than some stuck-up rich kid!"

Axel, meanwhile, continued to watch, but he's previous knowing expression had morpher to one of confusion and slight intrigue. Why had the blonde kid continued to argue and complain, even after learning of Axel's importance?

Axel run a hand through his hair and wandered back to his cubicle, lazily slouching into his chair and raising his legs to rest on the desk in their normal position. Well, that was weird. He'd been expecting the kid to suddenly change from complaining to sucking-up to Axel. That's what all the other's did, anyway.

"Why kind of kid is he?"

---

**A/N: **First chapter! First story! First ... bleugh.

I've read waaaaay to many lovie dovie Akuroku fanfics and thought, well screw that. I'll make them hate each other... for now... Mwa ha ha ha HA HA HA! ha... ehem.

Anywho, tell me what you think. *Nervously laughs* I still haven't figured out how to check reviews I've received but I'm betting I'll eventually get it and think... well, shit, that was embarrassingly easy.

Yeah. I've sort of gotten the whole story planned out... and I'm thinking of doing an epilogue to it... though with different characters :D


	2. Alcohol isn't the Answer

**Business Pressures:**

**Disclaimer: **Disclaim THIS! *makes obscene hand gesture*... yeah.

---

**Alcohol isn't the Answer:  
**  
As a weak attempt of breaking up his incredibly monotonous routine, sometimes Roxas Carrey would spontaneously decide to pay the local library a visit. One time he'd visited had been just before his final high school exams, forcing himself to study late into the evening until the night-worker had to ask him to leave as they were closing. This time, however, his steadily growing pile of untouched paperwork prompted Roxas that he should really pay the library another visit.

The thought was really quite maddening as it meant that, 2 months after school, not really all that much had changed; Roxas was still working his ass off... though this time, for no real purpose. At least in high school, Roxas always reinforced the fact that he was _furthering his education _but now? Well, Roxas didn't really care for a promotion and was getting paid the minimum wage... so honestly, what the hell was he wasting his efforts for?

Struggling through the automatic doors with a threateningly heavy pile of paper, Roxas somehow managed to make it to the library counter and slam his paper down, grinning at part-time librarian sitting behind it who was the other main reason Roxas continued to make consistent visits to _this _specific library and no other ones in the city.

"Hiya, Roxas!" The cute brunette grinned broadly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear and leaning forward, peering up at Roxas through her amazing emerald green eyes.

"Hey Olette," Roxas tilted his head to the side, attempting to look casual, "How have you been?"

"Oh... well, you know," Olette shrugged, in that _oh-so-adorable _way of hers, "I started Uni the other week. It's pretty great! Where did you end up going for Uni?"

Roxas chuckled nervously, "Actually... I sort of..."

The rest of his response was cut off by the shrieking library reception telephone. Olette gave Roxas an apologetic look and reluctantly answered it.

"Hello, you've reached Library Sanford. How may I help you?"

Roxas made a silent hand gestured that held a message equivalent to: "I'll go. I have plenty of time to talk to you later."

He then heaved his stack of papers up from the reception counter, and tried to look like the weight didn't affect him at all, when in fact his arms were screaming in protest. The moment a large bookshelf came between his view of Olette, Roxas allowed the paper weigh his upper-body down, hunching over and letting out an audible old-man wheeze of exhaustion.

Roxas had developed an infatuation with Olette on her first day working at the library, when he went to borrow some book he didn't even really care about, just so he could talk to her. The result of this, was that Roxas found out that Olette had a thing for more-brainy guys rather than the sporty, meat-headed jocks. This turned Roxas's liking of the girl to a full blown childish crush, which was, only _slightly _obvious to anyone who saw the two interacting.

Roxas put on a determined face, feeling triumphant. He could finally get this huge load of paperwork out of the way, and then, for the next half-hour or so after that, continue his catch-up talk with Olette. Who knows? Maybe he'd even gather enough courage to get her phone number, or even, God forbid, ask her on a date outright.

As he entered the study section of the library, Roxas quickly scanned the area to choose an appropriate seat whilst continuing to think about completion of paperwork and flirting tactics of Olette. Any chance of either activity taking place, though, drastically decreased once Roxas's line of vision spotted someone with red hair being uncharacteristically quiet.

_Oh god no. _Roxas inwardly thought, _What the hell is that jerk even doing here? _Across the large open area, seated at one of the many tables, drumming his fingers absentmindedly against the desktop whilst his head hung limply to the side and gathering a few admiring looks from some little 13-15 year old girls, was indeed '_that jerk' _Axel.

As if sensing or feeling Roxas's presence, the redhead suddenly lifted his gaze to meet his colleague's. Instantly his rather blank and bored expression flicked to one of his most sinister and infuriatingly mocking grins. Roxas huffed angrily and purposely ignored Axel, deliberately sitting at a desk as far away from the other as the library's study area would allow.

Slamming his paperwork down onto the desk loudly, and earning himself a few glares and whispered remarks about _being quiet because it's a library_, Roxas wearily sighed and rubbed his eyes repeatedly with his index finger and thumb until weird patterns of light danced across his sight.

_The sooner I get my work done, the sooner I can have my well deserved chat with Olette, go home, eat something and sleep. Don't think about Axel ruining the day._The next hour and a half passed in absolute silence (except for the occasion sound of a page being turned or Roxas's pen frantically scribbling notes) with Roxas bent over his desk, his prescription reading glasses perched on the bridge of his nose while productively sorting through his notes and concentrating on getting everything up to date. The weakness of Roxas's utter focus being directed at his work, however, meant that he did not notice as Axel slowly yet consistently moved to a table closer to Roxas every ten minutes.

Until he was seated right across from him at the same table.  
Axel leant back limply in his chair, and suddenly asked, "Could you tell me what the appeal of libraries are? Because, honestly I can't pick up on it."

_"Holy FUCK!" _Roxas would've liked to have said he had the dignity to have bellowed, but had in fact given a high-pitched scream of fright at this point. He clutched a hand lovingly over his chest, to calm his racing heartbeat, "When did you-?"

"I didn't know the nerdy glasses look was back in." Axel casually commented, gesturing to Roxas's spectacles, "Since when did you where them?"

"They're prescription," Roxas growled, wondering if it was even humanely possibly to hate one person with such intensity. He then glared coldly at Axel, and added, "I don't wear them at work because I only need them to read writing that's really, _really _small. And this-" He held up one of his papers, "has _really _small writing. Understood?"

Axel nodded patronisingly and then leant his chin on his palm, "That sounded like you were making fun of my intelligence by explaining that a lot simpler than necessary."

"Why are you _here_?" Roxas snarled, standing and heaving his paperwork up for the long trip to the post office.

When Roxas began to wander towards the library exit, Axel predictably followed.

"I noticed you come here sometimes. So I thought I'd come and say hi."

Roxas raised an eyebrow and snorted, "Ok_aaaa_y. What's the real reason? I was very happy with our only-see-each-other-at-work-non-spoken-agreement, you know."

The two walked towards the library entrance, Roxas taking a sharp turn left towards the reception, still hoping to at least have his talk with Olette. Surely Axel wouldn't interrupt his flirting banter with a girl he'd had a crush on for way too long... but then again it _was_ Axel.

Olette, now finished her conversation of the phone, peered up and grinned when she noticed Roxas, though a split second later her eyes flicked to behind Roxas to watch Axel stride up to the counter confidently and flash her a dazzling smile. Roxas could swear he saw her blush. At. Axel.

_Axel, you fucking--!_

"Who's your friend, Roxas?" Olette asked, barely able to hide the flustered tone to her voice.

_So much for going for the more brainy type. _Roxas thought, dejectedly, _I don't have a chance against a multi-millionaire. _

Roxas snapped, "Don't ask me, I have no idea who he is. You two should get to know each other."  
He then followed this with a sardonic wave and stormed out of the library, the huge stack of paperwork feeling alarmingly lighter in his anger. At some point Roxas swore he heard his heart shatter. Like a faint smashing sound of glass in the distance.

_Why hadn't Olette ever looked at me like that?  
_  
A snide voice is the back of his mind retorted, _You're an eighteen year old boy working at a job you don't care for... with no ambitions and no money. What the hell do you have to offer? Axel may be an idiot, but he's got his life pretty much planned out. And he has that natural charm. It's not that hard of a decision to make. _Once Roxas had sped all the way to the post office and mailed all of his paper off to the relevant managers from different districts, he stood aimlessly back in the street, with his hands deep in his coat pockets, and his red winter scarf blowing slightly in the breeze.

Out in the cold, deserted, night air, Roxas took a great big inhalation and let it out in the form of: _"FUCK!" _

"You a lot more angsty than I'd've thought when I first met you." A voice laughed behind him.

Roxas spun around to spot Axel about ten metres behind him, grinning smugly, before turning back around and continuing to walk, aiming to get to the train station.

"You know it would've been easier if you just told her we were friends from work." Axel called after him.

"Sorry, I tend to not lie to people I like."

Axel actually looked hurt at this, though Roxas didn't notice, but the blonde could still hear another pair of footsteps being echoed through the street and could tell, even through the silence, that Axel was still there.  
_  
Enough was enough!_ Roxas quickly spun around, with his eyes scrunched shut in anger, "Could you stop bloody stalking me?"

When he didn't receive a witty comeback like he had come to expect from Axel, Roxas slowly opened his eyes.

An old woman stood in front of him, looking absolutely petrified at his outburst and pale with fright.

Roxas felt blood begin to rush to his cheeks and embarrassingly coughed. "Sorry, I thought... uh... you were someone else." He said sheepishly.

Ten minutes later, after Roxas repetitively apologised to the old lady and offered to help her walk home, and being hit over the head with the lady's handbag. Roxas spotted Axel leaning against a brick wall further down the street, chuckling to himself and grinning widely.

"What the hell did she have in her bag?" Roxas muttered to himself, "Bloody _bricks_?"

"I heard alcohol heals everything." Axel light-heartedly responded.

---

This is how Roxas found himself in a tobacco-smoked filled pub downtown, sitting next to Axel. The pub _Oblivion _(a place, let it be known, Roxas had never been to during his life) drew quite an odd assortment of people. Stranger still, many of the other half-drunk customers waved or yelled greetings towards Axel when he entered. Evidently he was a regular. Not exactly the same could be said for Roxas, who stayed close behind Axel as they wandered to the bar... and _swore _he heard a couple of catcalls to himself. Eugh.

When Axel nodded to the bartender, a man with a sandy blonde mullet (_I thought those hairstyles went out of fashion AGES ago)_, ordering "the usual", Roxas suddenly became aware that he was spending his _free _Friday night with Axel, a person he absolutely despised, instead of hanging out with his _actual _friends or chilling out back at his house with his older brother, Sora.

So just to clarify and avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings, Roxas eloquently blurted out, "Just so you know, I'm not here to hang out with you... as it were."

Axel threw him a crooked grin and tapped his fingers gingerly against his fancy looking martini, "Purely a business purpose outing – got it. Consider it committed to my memory."

"Can I get a beer?" Roxas yelled over the loud banging of the pub's stereo music towards the bartender. When the man didn't show any signs of having heard him, Roxas began waving his arm over his head in a very primitive manner.

Until Axel poked him in the temple.

"Woah now." He _tsked_, "Demyx is new here and he's a pretty nice guy. I don't want him get fired for serving minors alcohol. Seriously, are you even allowed-?"

"Shut it." Roxas snapped. Technically speaking, no, Roxas wasn't permitted to have alcohol as he currently didn't have any form of identification on him. Still, what's the point in going to a pub without the sole intent being to get completely wasted? All Roxas really wanted to do was get a bit tipsy and loosen up, and start enjoying himself. He'd worked his ass off for the last couple of months, after all. He deserved a break.

Apparently Demyx had in fact heard Roxas's previous order and placed a beer on the bar in front of him, before waltzing off to serve some other customers (such as a strange looking man with long blue hair and another with black dreadlock-ish... things). He then gave an elaborate grin to Axel and made a show of really slowly drinking his beer just to annoy the other.

He didn't, however, get the miffed reaction he was aiming for, as Axel only looked at him blankly and said, "Quite the little rebel, aren't you?"

"I do what I can." Roxas quipped back.

---

Roxas, as it turned out, was not very clever when it came to responsible consumption of alcohol. At the start of the evening, when he and Axel had first entered the pub, he only had the intent to get tipsy so that he could have a relatively fun night – as he was a 'happy drunk'. Instead of this Roxas ended up getting tipsy but then became involved in a drinking challenge with Axel, which he intoxicatingly agreed to.

And so, four hours later, Roxas was sitting where he had been before, with his face squished against the wooden grain of the bar countertop. The sensible eighteen year old had been lost through the excessive amount of alcohol and instead a ditzy idiotic boy was currently taking his place. He was drunk beyond recognition.

Roxas muttered something incoherent and raised his head to look around the pub in a disorientated fashion. When only indistinguishable, blurry colours met his vision, he simply groaned and allowed his head to smack face-first back into the bar again.

A shiver ran down the boy's spine when someone's lips lightly brushed the shell of his ear, whispering, "I think you've had enough, Roxas."

"I'm fine," Roxas replied instinctively, though he only was able to manage it out in a slur.

"_Sure_." The voice drawled, "But just so you know, you're not allowed to throw up in my car when I drive you home."

"I won't." Roxas huffed, and finally looked up to see who was talking to him.

It didn't really help much that he's alcohol induced eyesight was completely fucked up. All he could really make out was a large pinkish blob and two fuzzy green orbs. _Green... green... where the fuck have I seen eyes that green before...? _Suddenly a speedy montage of images consisting of a cute brunette librarian flashed painfully through Roxas's mind. _Olette...? _What the hell was she doing here? And what was up with her voice? Quick! Say something! Anything!

"You look puuuurdy." Roxas's mouth moved of its own accord, and he mentally smacked himself into the bar for saying something so goddamn _stupid. _He couldn't even bloody see her! What if she asked him if he liked her top or something? What the hell was he supposed to say? Maybe he'd just say something generic like _'yes, I like it... it brings out your eyes...' _And good _god! _Pain burst through Roxas's left temple. Note to self: stop thinking so much when drunk.

"Ah... thanks, I guess." The fuzzy Olette replied, "I didn't pin you as a lightweight drinker, Roxas."

"Ahaha..." Roxas chuckled, wondering why Olette was acting a bit out of sorts ... but then realised he found this new side to her kind of cool. "Mmhmm..."

A slightly awkward silence followed after that, not that Roxas noticed. He's mind was too busy considering possibilities of why Olette was here, in _this _particular pub. And then it dawned on him – she had followed them so she could talk to Axel.

_God dammit! So first you break my heart and then you decide to tear at it a couple more times for good measure? Well, I'm not going down without a fight!  
_  
"You..." Roxas grimaced, trying to carefully select the right words. His vocabulary, however, had also been affected by the alcohol, and so he kept it simple, "You really need to care about other people... not just yourself."

"What are you-?"

"You're heartless. Do you even care that I'm currently emotionally dying at this pub... thing... place... right now because of you?"

Silence met Roxas's ears for a few seconds, except for the quiet clinking of glass and soft background music.

"I _do _care about you, Roxas." A brief pause, "I just... didn't know how to show it."

_What a fucking bitch. _Roxas thought bitterly, _She didn't know how to say she... Wait... WHAT?! She cares... ? About... ME? _"Well..." Roxas smiled flirtatiously. This was the beer talking now, and the innocent blonde boy who normally resided in his body was long gone. "Generally speaking, you could _physically _show it."

And that was all it took. Roxas flung himself from his barstool, taking a random aim at where he presumed Olette's lips would be. Luckily he hit his target, and kissed Olette like he had wanted to for _years_. The top one was thin while the bottom lip plump, and tasted of beer. He felt hands running through his hair and all over his body, and felt obligated to return the favour. One of the only things he noticed during this particularly blissful moment was that Olette's stomach wasn't as soft as he thought it would be – it was in fact quite toned and muscular and her chest was really quite masculinely flat. But really, who the hell cared?

Roxas was _finally _having some fun.

And then all Roxas knew was that his feet were moving. And fast. He recognised he feet passing over the doorway of the pub, over the pavement of the outside street, resting on the floor of Olette's car, smacking into (what he presumed) was Olette's apartment, and then buried in the soft sheets of a bed.

From that point on Roxas wouldn't be able to recall anything that happened afterwards.

Not during the night, anyway.

---

Blinking blearily through his half-closed eyes, Roxas yawned and then turned to snuggle further down into his bed covers, until a sharp stab of pain shot through two places at once – his head and his stomach. Shooting up into a sitting position, he let out a short hiss of pain and properly took in his surroundings for the first time in the morning.

And realised he had no idea where the _hell _he was. He was in a bedroom, clearly. Just not his own. The walls were completely covered in posters and the floor littered with clothing. A slight grumble to his side prompted Roxas to notice that he wasn't in the bed alone.

"Fuck." He mumbled, both to the situation he had found himself in and the continuously painful throbbing of his body.

He needed water, but he couldn't bring himself to move. Something brushed against Roxas's thigh, and he suddenly realised he have someone's limbs tangled with his. Now moving _definitely_ wasn't an option.

_Wait... _Roxas wondered through his headache, hazy memories of lingering touches, bright green eyes and absolute ecstasy filtering back into his mind, _Did I...? With Olette? Really? _

His head flicked to the lump in the bed sheets beside him, curiosity growing. All he really needed to do was lift the covers and have a peak. Just to check he wasn't dreaming. Just to finally have sufficient evidence that maybe the world _didn't _hate him as much as he thought it did. He slowly stretched his arm out uncertainly, hand hovering above the shielded figure residing under the covers.

_Ah, fuck it._

He grab a fistful of the quilt and tugged it off to reveal...

_AXEL?!? _The lack of warmth had clearly woken Axel, who still in his sleepy state merely mumbled, "Ten more minutes..."

A short moment later the utter silence of the apartment was shattered by Roxas's piercing scream. The blonde hurriedly leaped out of the bed as if on fire, grabbed his clothes that he could find and ran, hopping into his jeans. He had one aim and one aim only: get the hell out before Axel completely woke up.

---

Monday morning Roxas's hands sweated, his gut was twisting into itself painfully, and he felt as though he'd vomit if he even saw an item of food. He hadn't seen Axel since Saturday morning, and really didn't want to face him at the moment.

His solution to this was to completely ignore the redhead and come to work to accomplish what he knew was necessary. Entering the main working area where all of the low-paid employees cubicles were situated, Roxas kept his eyes glued to the floor as he sped past them heading straight towards Xemnas's office.

And then he noticed Axel was standing a couple of metres in front of him, with an unusually friendly smile plastered on his face, "Hey buddy," he greeted, "How was your—" Roxas quickly stepped around him without so much as a sign of acknowledgement and bolted into Xemnas's office, slamming the door behind him "—weekend?" Axel finished, staring blankly at the closed wooden door.

Roxas tried to calm himself by taking a few deep inhalations. Xemnas, meanwhile, looked quite surprised at Roxas's loud entrance. Roxas placed both his palms on Xemnas's desk, closing his eyes and saying to his boss the well-rehearsed speech he had prepared since Saturday.

"Sir, I demand to be transferred to another district of Grenville Enterprises. _Any other district_. So long as I can get to it via train, I should be fine. I'll still work the same position and receive the same amount of pay, I just –" Roxas drifted off, noticing the shocked look Xemnas was giving him, "You know I'm worth it. I work my ass off and make this bloody business a heap of money, so either let me transfer of I'm quitting. Your call."

---

**A/N: **SECOND CHAPTER! ... *sighs*

I've started school again... Yr 12. Hoorah. So give me a break, would you? I've been busy preparing for SACs and stuff.

As always, I'd appreciate feedback. :D


	3. Middle Ground

**Business Pressures:**

**Disclaimer: **STFU! I will maim you with a watchamacallit... ah fuck screw it I honestly can not be bothered. No. I do NOT own kingdom hearts nor am in anyway associated with it. Happy now?

---

**Middle ground:**

Roxas had heard from a range of different sources that moving jobs was always a difficult change. He would easily have to say that he didn't feel the same way. Considering he still worked the same position for the same business, did the same paperwork and received the same (though crappy and minimal) wage, the only change was _where _Roxas worked and who he worked with.

All in all, Roxas would probably reflect on his district swap as one of the best decisions he had ever made in his, though admittedly short, life.

His transfer to the city district of Grenville Enterprises had gone relatively smoothly. Xemnas knew that Roxas was an asset to the company, and so phoned up a few of his connections to sort everything out. And so, for the past three or so months, Roxas had been working under the watchful eyes of Zexion Hutchinson, who he'd immediately noticed kept his employees a lot more productive than Xemnas ever did.

"Morning, Selphie." Roxas yawned as he entered his shared cubicle with the brunette girl. When he'd first met her, he'd immediately been aware of how friendly she was. She was around his age as well, therefore a perfect candidate for the 'Roxas crush of the year'... but, since the whole 'Olette incident', Roxas had been very wary about how he felt about and acted towards girls. Besides, at times Selphie could come across as slightly, for lack of a more suitable term, clingy and boy crazed.

She gave him a wave while chatting animatedly to a client on her headset. Roxas slid into his seat and stretched until his arms gave a sickeningly satisfying cracking noise.

_Down to business. _Roxas sighed, and rubbed his eyes in a weak attempt to wake up. Zexion made a lot of his employees work much longer hours than necessary, which often resulted in mere five or less hour sleeps for the blonde.

The morning past in relative productivity, with Roxas completing at least a third of his work. This achievement pressed Roxas to take a fifteen minute break to have a coffee and eat the first thing he would have a chance to for the day.

"Are you taking a break?" Selphie's voice broke through Roxas's stupor, and he looked towards her with a slightly dazed expression still upon his face.

"Yeah." He stood and grinned mischievously at her, "Well, it's either that or the risk of me passing out from starvation." As if further proof was needed, his stomach decided to make an embarrassingly loud rumble at this point.

Selphie simply laughed at him. "Ok, I'll look after your calls, if you get any." She said the last part with a cheeky grin in place. Considering that Roxas barely got any clients specifically requesting for him because of his slightly amateurish people-skills, this was probably why.

"Thanks." Roxas responded, ignoring her innocent jab at his lack of social skills.

Loosening his tie as he made his way into the separate small kitchen area, Roxas grinned as he saw one of his few friends from work gripping the fridge door and peering intently at the contents.

"Hey, Tidus." Roxas greeted. His friend lifted his head, then recognising who was addressing him, let his face resume it normal sly appearance.

"What's up?" Tidus replied. Being in the accounting department of the business, Roxas didn't often get a chance to bump into Tidus, their work areas being situated on opposite sides of the building, as well as their shifts often taking place at completely varying times.

"Nothing much." Roxas said, "Who's lunch are you stealing today?"

Tidus closed the fridge door, holding a plastic container and wandering over to the microwave, placing it in there for only 30 seconds, as he liked his food _cooked _but not _warm_. Weirdo. "Dunno, they didn't write their name on it. Whoever had the lasagne, I suppose." He paused, "I don't really warm to the term _stealing _either."

"What would you call it then?" Roxas challenged.

"Well... I take the lunches for _educational _purposes." Roxas threw him a sceptical look, to which Tidus merely shrugged, "Seriously! I'm teaching our naive fellow peers to show some smarts and either have their lunch with them all the time... or..."

"Or eat it before you can get your hands on it?" Roxas finished, smiling broadly.

The microwave made a beeping noise and Tidus removed his stolen goods, digging in with a fork (that he had no doubt stolen from someone as well), "Quiet, you. Just because I don't have the time to _make _my own food..."

Roxas rolled his eyes and started to make himself a coffee, zoning out as Tidus's self-justification continued ("Making my own lunch isn't on the top of my priorities list, you know?"). By the time he sat down with a smoking mug of coffee, Tidus had completely cleaned out his container.

"Hey guys!" Selphie bounced into the room, nearly tripping over her own feet in her evident excitement.

"Uh..." Roxas became concerned, "Weren't you supposed to be taking both of our incoming calls?"

"Who _cares_?" Selphie said eagerly, "You know how I have a thing for really eccentric guys?"

"I suppose," Roxas said, while Tidus simultaneously responded with a blunt and uncaring, "No."

"Anyway! There's this incredible _slamming hottie_ with like awesome hair and must be from another district or something!"

"Cool." Roxas deadpanned. It's not that he didn't care for Selphie's love life, but it just so happened that any weird looking guy came into the building and she'd be crushing on them for weeks, until a weirder more unusual specimen came along.

"He has hair..." Tidus reiterated with a sigh. Unlike Roxas though, the blonde suspected that Tidus just flat out disliked Selphie, "That's pretty awesome..."

"But it's like..." Selphie made some wild hand gestures while searching for a suitable term, but ended up settling for the simple, "so _red._"

CRASH!

"Shit, Roxas!" Tidus scolded, "You've gotta _warn _people if you're going to drop and break you mug and spill hot coffee everywhere..." A few seconds silence, followed by Tidus muttering, "Dammit. It's soaked through the hole in my shoe..."

Roxas ignored him, staring up at Selphie with a pale, worried face, "Did you say... r-_red _hair?" At the weird look he received from both of them, he then laughed nervously and added, "I mean... that's nothing unusual, Selphie! Ginger hair is totally normal. Gosh."

_Deep inhalations - breathe in, breathe out._

Selphie rolled her eyes at the boy's strange behaviour, "Not ginger, silly. _Red _like... red!" She pointed towards a crimson magnet on the fridge's door. "And he had it all like... pulled back... " She sighed dreamily.

"Cool." Roxas said quietly, attempting to calm himself down. It could be anyone, he reasoned. "I'm going to go back to work now. My break ended five minutes ago."

Slowly walking back out into the main-working area, Roxas made his way towards the general vicinity of his cubicle, until he heard voices, and stopped in his tracks.

"- I have to say I'm relatively astounded to see you here."

"Honestly? I'm surprised I'm here too."

"So, you'll be taking Vexen's position. He was fired last week after we found him playing around with illicit substances on his desk. He claimed it was for an _experiment_."

A pause, and then, "...Interesting excuse."

"That's what I thought too... Now, if you'd follow me, Axel, I'll show you to your desk."

"Sure thing, Zexion."

_Fuck!_ Roxas knew he must've done something to really anger the Gods. For one; Axel had evidently just transferred to this district and two; if he didn't move soon he was pretty sure he'd have to face the redhead. Crouching low, Roxas slowly tried to make a detour around the old, deserted corner of the floor and undetectably sprint behind the pair when they were walking the opposite direction.

And it would have worked too, if he hadn't tripped and gone flying.

"_Shit!_" He slammed roughly into the carpet, making a soft thumping noise.

Zexion and Axel turned to see the blonde lying awkwardly sprawled across the carpet, gazing up at them with a sheepish grin on his face.

"This is Roxas Carrey." Zexion briefly introduced, giving the said blonde a disinterested stare.

"Nice to meet you." Roxas said, forcing a smile onto his face.

Axel offered him a hand and hoisted him off the ground. "Long time no see, shortie." He replied.

_Well fuck. _Roxas thought bitterly, _There goes the whole pretend-we-don't-know-each-other tactic._

Roxas could've sworn he saw one corner of Zexion's mouth quirk up the slightest bit. "Anyway, Roxas, you should probably get back to work. I'll take Axel to his office."

Roxas could help but be relieved that he was allowed to go, but something about that sentence annoyed him, "Office? Don't you mean cubicle?"

"No." Zexion said, "Axel's been promoted to Secretary of this district. He deserves own office now, at that position."

Roxas felt his jaw drop open and spared at glance at Axel, who was watching him with a bemused expression. Axel... had been promoted? Axel, the guy who wouldn't be caught dead doing paperwork had somehow put in enough effort to get promoted? What... the... _hell? _

"Cool." Roxas decided he had to say something, other than simply stand there staring at Zexion and Axel. He then ducked into his cubicle without so much of a goodbye to either of them. He sat and all but collapsed onto his desk, letting out a muffled and aggravated groan of annoyance.

_The world hates me for sure._

---

_Axel's here, he knows I'm here. Axel's here, he knows I'm here._

Roxas's train of thought was currently stuck on a circular route, thinking the same thoughts over and over again. Mainly, just how much shit he was in.

_Axel's here, he knows I'm-_

"Hey _Roxas_," Selphie propelled herself in her wheelchair from her desk to his side of the cubicle, which, in fact, wasn't really that much of a momentous feat, considering their cubicle was only about 3 metres wide. "Do you know that new guy by any chance? ... Axel?"

"Nope." Roxas spat out quickly.

Selphie inclined her head slightly to the left, giving Roxas an assessing look, "Are you sure? Because he told me to say hi to you when I hung around outside his office this morning."

Roxas passed his snort of as a strangled cough. Justifiably though, Selphie did go to quite extreme measures in order for her _eccentric _obsessions to notice her. Such as today, having wandered around Axel's office for at least an hour before he asked her if she needed help with anything. Roxas didn't have the heart to tell her she might be giving off some slightly stalker-ish vibes. He couldn't deny it was pretty entertaining though.

"Ah..." Roxas feigned casualness by leaning back in his chair and scrunching up his nose in pretend thought, "I think we might've worked together in the District I last worked at... but really, who knows?" _I do! I know! _He inwardly screamed in frustration.

All his recent secrecy was really doing some damage to Roxas's mental health.

_Just something get me out of this conversation. Can I honestly just work without someone talking about Axel for ten seconds?_

As if on cue, the headset that he hadn't even bothered to put on (as a result of never receiving calls from clients) rang loudly. The pair in the cubicle exchanged stunned expressions, before Roxas spontaneously dived for his headset, crushed it onto his head, and collapsed onto the floor with a resounding crash.

His small moment of pride in having successfully answered the phone, however, was suddenly diminished by the fact that he had absolutely no idea what to say. Roxas illustrated this panic through multiple hand gesticulations to Selphie – who whispered for him to simply repeat what she mouthed to him.

"Hello," Roxas mirrored Selphie, "You've reached Grenville Enterprises – CBD District. Roxas Carrey speaking... uh." Roxas squinted at the weird shapes Selphie's mouth was making next. What the _hell _was she _saying? _So Roxas was stuck, attempting to improvise, "How... er... are you today?"

A soft chuckle emitted from the other end of the line, "It really does show you care for your clients when asking how their day is, Roxas, but isn't particularly necessary."

The bottom of Roxas's stomach dropped out. Crap. Zexion. His boss. _Bugger! _

"H-hello sir!" Roxas stammered, "What could I help you with? Are you at a meeting or...?"

"No, actually, I'm just in my office. Just calling to ask you to join me as I have a matter to discuss."

"...Sure." He listened as the sound of a click on the other end of the line was followed by dial tone.

He then looked up from his desk and noticed Selphie was looking at him inquiringly.

"It was Zexion." Roxas jumped from his seat and rushed to look more presentable since him and his boss's last meeting, when he had been lying on the floor. The blonde hurriedly claimed "I've got to go" and all but sprinting to his boss's office.

---

"Make yourself comfortable, Roxas." Zexion said to Roxas, peering over his glasses as his employee entered.

Roxas fell into a spare chair, looking around the office as it was the first time he had been in it. It was about the same size and shape as Xemnas's, though Zexion had further utilised the space in every way possible – with filing cabinets and organised folders lining the walls.

"Uh..." Roxas started stupidly, "Want did you want to discuss, sir?"

Not bothering to look up from his paperwork, Zexion swiftly replied, "No need to worry, Roxas, I was simply calling you in to compliment you on your beneficial influence on the company."

Roxas felt blood rush to his cheeks. He never had really taken to well to praise. "Oh, sir," he mumbled, "I'm only one worker. I'm sure my contribution in terms of paperwork isn't that –"

"I wasn't referring to your work ethic." Zexion's calm voice sliced across Roxas's half-assed attempt at accepting a compliment, "I think you'll find that you've had a much more notable input in the social workings of the business. Namely, Axel Miller."

Roxas stared blankly at Zexion, his internal organs feeling tightly knotted. Just when he thought he was becoming acknowledged for his efforts, Axel had come up in the conversation _again_. In an attempt to stop this discussion before it properly started, Roxas opened his mouth to dispute and deny the claims Zexion was making.

To only be talked over by his boss again, "Axel, as I'm sure you noticed when previously working with him, never really showed any sign of caring for the workings of Grenville Enterprises and for this reason evidently never tried at all – since he was already well aware of the fact he was going to inherit plenty of money. That's why he was placed at such a low position for such a long time. He never showed any effort and it appeared to the business he'd cause less trouble if given a job with less power."

Zexion paused for a moment, which gave Roxas a substantial amount of time to wind his head around all the minute things he had just mentioned. _So that's why Axel was working as a minimal paid employee_...

"So, congratulations on changing all of that, Roxas," Zexion said, almost fondly. Almost. But not quite. "I'm thanking you on behalf of us who know your influence on Axel that's encouraged him to show some initiative for the company." He then smiled, with a somewhat knowing twinkle in his eye, "I don't understand why he felt the need to transfer though. Maybe he felt there were better opportunities here."

---

Thankfully, taking into consideration the fact that Axel was now an occupation above Roxas, they never had any reason to see each other around the office. And even if Axel wandered passed Roxas's cubicle in order to go to Zexion's office, he would either make sure he was busy with some absolutely _vital _task or simply, if out of ideas, subtly (in this context, walking fast) make his way to the kitchen area, even he wasn't going to be on his lunchbreak for another couple of hours.

One particular say, when working late, Roxas found himself in the surprisingly calm isolation of staying back at work late, with absolutely no other employees still there. This is possibly why the sudden sound of feet on carpet made Roxas jump. Just a little. The blonde glanced up, feeling his stomach twist painfully as he barely saw the tips of familiar red spikes floating past the top of his cubicle walls.

"Hey, Roxas." Axel's head appeared over the top of the wall in front of Roxas's desk, "Whatcha doing?"

"Work." Roxas dismissed, not even glancing up from his monitor.

Axel scoffed, "Well, I was just going to Zexion's office... if you were going to ask... or want to know."

"I wasn't and don't." Roxas wryly replied.

Axel gave one last loud huff before marching off in the general direction of Zexion's office. When Roxas heard a door click shut and presumed Axel was now at a safe distance, he gathered the last of his paperwork and wandered into a separate room which held the multiple printers and a photocopier.

Placing a thin sheet of paper onto the glass surface, Roxas copied it, absently watching the green scanning laser move back and forth across the surface. Flipping the page over and preparing to scan the other side, a large hand unexpectedly appeared on Roxas's left and heavily slammed the top of the photocopier downwards onto Roxas's innocent fingertips.

"Ow! What the... fuck...?" Roxas voice died in his throat when he noticed it was Axel who was behind him. He managed to successfully avoid him for the majority of the week, but, well... obviously he'd being fighting against the tide when he'd been praying to never run into the redhead ever again.

Speedily spinning around, Roxas took a few cautious steps towards the only doorway of the copier room, which Axel picked up on and immediately stood in his path and blocked that option.

"For Christ's sake, Roxas," Axel exclaimed, "Are we ever going to talk about what happened like _adults_? Chasing you around and trying to catch you on your own does get awfully tiring, you know."

Roxas angrily retorted, "Give me a break, this kind of stuff happens all the time. Plenty of people resort to moving away to avoid people they may have had... unwanted interactions with. If _you _hadn't moved to the CBD District in the first place this would all be behind us."

"Unbelievable," Axel muttered, wiping a hand over his face, "Ok, since you're obviously too much of a fucking pansy to admit to what happened. I will spell it out for you, we had sex. We fucked. We bumped-uglies... ok? It's out in the open now, let's talk about it."

Being unwillingly so heavily reminded of their fling, Roxas snapped, yelling, "How much of a gentleman were you to take a drunken guy home and sleep with him? I bet you do that lots, don't you?"

Axel's gaze flicked away momentarily, and he repeatedly scrunched and flattened his fists, clearly having an internal battle with himself. He eventually replied, "Not much, actually... Normally I'd just boast about my future inheritance to a multi-million dollar company and wait for the first attractive person to start flirting... they wouldn't have to be drunk."

Roxas's eyes widened slightly, though not enough for Axel to notice. Since when did Axel give honest answers to people?

The redhead continued, "But with you, Roxas, it was _so _different. You weren't impressed with all the superficial things like everyone else was. Which was what I initially liked about you, I guess. But I later realised, that since you didn't seem to care about that stuff, I had no experience in getting your attention in other ways. And then we went to the bar... and we both now know of your incredibly low-alcohol tolerance... so, of course, you were drunk beyond all recognition. I, however, was only slightly tipsy and still had... _some_ of my wits about me. I thought that this might be an opportunity-"  
At the icy glare he received from Roxas, Axel grinned sheepishly, "Yeah, yeah, I know... not the _smartest _decision. Anyway... I guess I took advantage of you... _But _I _swear _it was because I'd run out of other ideas."

Roxas stood frozen to the spot, both hands scrunched into fists on either side of him. His left eye was having a twitching frenzy. Never, in all his life, had Roxas been so angry before.

"Run out of _other_ ideas?" Roxas hissed, "Why not, like a normal person, just be nice to someone you like and stop annoying them ... or... clichés and all, send them flowers of some shit? Or... knowing you, hire some relationship guidance assistant with your fucking millions that you always mention."

Axel, looking hurt about the jab at his fortune, opened his mouth to interrupt at this point, but Roxas was on a roll, and help a hand up to silence him.

"Did _none_ of these ideas cross your mind? Even when you were sober? And, wait, my apologies for presuming that a rich boy that need not ever try and achieve anything with his life would even bother using his brain... And honestly?" Roxas knew he'd be in dangerous territory if he continued, but couldn't really care less at this point, "I didn't even know I _was_ sleeping with you. I thought you were Olette (that's the librarian girl, in case you care)... with your green eyes. If you hadn't noticed, I was saving myself, you prick! So, thanks... really. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and hopelessly try to forget this conversation ever took place."

"You were... a virgin?" Axel whispered, letting go of Roxas.

"I'm eighteen you dense idiot! I'm not just some... some... _slut! _What the hell do you think?"

With that, Roxas roughly shoved Axel away from him and marched off, the thought of his paperwork that he left in the photocopier not even crossing his mind.

---

Being the heir of multi-million dollar company had its obvious perks – nice clothes, houses, cars... but there were also the other benefits such as being given the power the enables an individual to do pretty much anything you want without anyone you work with complaining. This is why; Axel Miller easily got access to Roxas's personal details folder without so much as a glance of curiosity from those who saw him digging through the personal files one dull afternoon.

When Axel finally managed to achieve his goal, and triumphantly clutched Roxas personal details in his left hand, he grinned to himself before faxing the information all through to his office.

"You can run but you can't hide, kid."

---

_Friday evening..._

Roxas gave a sigh of relief as he took a slow and leisurely walk home from work, looking forward to the weekend. Hayner, Pence and himself had made some loose arrangements about getting together and hanging out for the first time in months.

Roxas had a slight smile on his face as he thought about the unexplainable bliss that those full-time workers encounter when the torture of work ends and a well deserved break begins.

This week had been especially agonising – with Axel being around, and Roxas going out of his way trying to avoid the other. And then there had been the whole incident with the photocopier at the start of the week...

Roxas winced at the memory, _That had been especially awkward...  
_  
Turning into his street, Roxas began to rummage through his bag to find his house keys – but then realised a navy blue car was already parked in the driveway.

_Oh cool. Sora's home._Roxas gave a quick wave to the neighbours and ducked inside the house, accidentally slamming the door closed behind him, and kicking his shoes off – with one neatly landing at the base on the doormat and the other flying off into the lounge room.

"Hey! _Hey Sora! _Why are you home so early?" Roxas called into the house, as he clambered up the stairs, chucked his bag on his bed, all but ripped off his tie, and unbuttoned and untucked his shirt.  
At no response, Roxas shrugged and strolled into the kitchen, arms stretched above his head, "What's with the silent treatment? I mean, since when do you not..." Roxas first noted that there were two pairs of socked feet resting on the tile floor. As his gaze lifted, the cheerful expression on his face vanished immediately.

Axel and Sora were seated at the round kitchen table, drinking coffee, and watching him. Sora had his default joyful smile in place, but Axel's expression seemed more condescending... As if waiting for Roxas's reaction in a silent challenge for him to object.

"Crap." Roxas said under his breath. The way Axel and Sora had just been, mirrored how old friends would look. The whole scene was too sick for words.

Sora gave his little brother a friendly wave. "Evening Roxas. Your boss here," he gestured to the redhead seated across from him, "Axel, said he had some important matters to discuss."

Roxas tore a hand through his hair in frustration. And then looked at Sora. His older brother had been so proud of him for sustaining the job he'd gotten straight out of high school. And as much as he wanted to throw Axel _the fuck_ out of his house, he knew he wouldn't be able to do it in front of Sora.

"Awesome." Roxas plastered an incredibly fake and overly used grin on his face.

A smile that Sora always bought.

For a few seconds or so, the three remained silent. Roxas exhaled loudly through his nose, trying to slow the pace of the blood he could feeling pumping to the tips of his fingers. Of course this had to happen on a Friday, didn't it? Axel had to of course go and steal from him one of his few nights of relaxation. Roxas dug his hands in his pockets, in an attempt to minimise the craving he was having to clamp them around Axel's throat. And squeeze. Hard.

In his head, Roxas weighed the pros and cons of the current situation. Of course, this resulted in the pros column remaining empty. So Roxas did what he did best. He tried to wriggle out of the position he had found himself in.

Roxas threw a genuine-looking (though, of course in reality not) smile towards Axel, who looked slightly surprised at this emotion he'd never seen on Roxas's face before. Internally, Roxas did a victory dance. Clearly, he was already gaining the upper hand – as Axel evidently hadn't thought he'd look so happy when he found the redhead sitting in his house.

"Sorry, Ax," Roxas dished out a cheesy nickname, just to rub salt in the wound, "You'll have to come back later. I've got plans tonight. Pence, Hayner and me are gonna go -"

Sora fixed him with a confused look, "I thought you guys were hanging out tomorrow night."

Not thrown off in the least, Roxas casually replied and made some excuse off the top of his head, "Oh, well, yeah. We were _meant_ to but Pence has a weekend Uni class tomorrow. So we had to shift our plans to tonight. How _unfortunate_."

Axel made the first comment he had for the past few minutes, "Sound like some pretty good pals you got there, Rox." He smirked behind his coffee mug while he saw a flash of anger pass swiftly through Roxas's eyes at the return nickname.

"Yeah. So?" The blonde snapped back. _Crap_. He noted an instant later that he might've admittedly lost a bit of his cool there. Thankfully, Sora hadn't noticed.

"I'm sure they won't mind if you call and explain you'll be half an hour late." Axel plastered on a very relaxed expression on his face at this point. Roxas's brain's inner workings of cogs and screws had abruptly screeched to a stop again.

_How the hell did Axel suddenly gain the upper hand?_

"I'm sure the guys won't mind." Sora intervened, then gave his younger brother a purposeful stare, "_Right_, Roxas?"

Roxas inwardly translated this as You-Can-Meet-Up-With-The-Guys-Anytime-Therefore-Business-Comes-First. _God dammit. _"Fine." Roxas sighed, "Only for half an hour though. _That's it_. I haven't seen the guys in ages."

"Great!" Sora chirped, and sprung out of his seat, placing his mug in the sink. "I'll leave you guys to it then."

Roxas, midway to sitting in Sora's recently vacated chair, froze, "Wait... _what?_"

"My shift's starting soon." Sora hurriedly explained, whilst rushing around between the kitchen and hallway, "I would've left sooner but Axel turned up and I thought it only polite and keep him company until you came. So I'll be off."

Roxas opened his mouth, ready and waiting with yet another excuse for him and Axel having a 'business' based discussion not being necessary, but Sora was already half-way out the front door.

"I'll see you later, Roxas." He called, and then waved, "Nice meeting you, Axel!"

"You too, Sora." Axel cheerfully replied back, before the echo of the door slamming symbolised any form of false excuses and cheesy nicknames to be disgarded from this point onwards. The redhead then leant forward, with his cheeky smile back in place, "I gotta say, your brother's pretty awesome."

"Why are you here?" Roxas asked bluntly, planning to prompt this exchange to be over as soon as possible.

"I'm guessing he doesn't find it hard to get a date..." Axel continued, fully aware he had directly ignored Roxas, "You wouldn't either, I bet – that is, if you somehow dug that stick outta your ass."

Roxas decide to let that slide, so he wouldn't be sent to prison for brutally murdering a 'guest' in his house.

"So are these _Hayner _and _Pence _friends of yours real then?" He asked, silently challenging Roxas with his persistent stare.

"Well, it may happen to surprise you," Roxas deadpanned, "But _yes _they exist."

"Then I'm at least guessing you weren't actually hanging out with them tonight. Am I right?"

"Tomorrow night." Roxas admitted, "You caught me. Sorry for trying to avoid being stuck alone in my own house with a –"

"Yeah, yeah." Axel cut in, "Long, smart-ass insult. I got it."

Silence fell upon the two, and the drumming of Axel's fingers on the table sounded like a brick being smacked into the side of Roxas's skull. Over and over again.

"Look, would you..." Roxas grabbed Axel's hand and pinned it to the table, before realising the idiocy of such an action and withdrew his hand quickly, as if burnt, "Stop. Just... stop it, ok? Why are you here?"

As soon as the words had left his mouth, Roxas noted the change in atmosphere. It was no longer poking-a-bear-with-a-stick, but more... tense and... God forbid, _serious_.

"Ok." Axel sniffed, and rested his chin on his palm, "Things have been a bit weird between us," Roxas scoffed, and crossed his arms over his chest, _This ought to be good_, "Anyway, I just wanted to make a piece offering... as it were. And just explain things to you."

The redhead gaze momentarily flicked towards the blonde sitting across from him, and when noticing the boy's sceptical look, said, "_Hear me out_. As you've probably guessed, I'm a bit of a train wreck. I use people, I use money to use people, I distort things so that they're better for me, I exploit, abuse, toy-with... what have you. The thing is... I've been trying a lot more lately. I've actually been doing my work – attending meetings, talking to clients. Everything. I even got promoted to District Secretary... " He paused.

Roxas patiently waited for the punch line.

"And for all of this I've got you to thank, Roxas. You've... kind of been the equivalent of motivation for me."

Roxas's stare rose from the table to look at Axel in disbelief. Whatever he'd been expecting Axel to say – it most _certainly _wasn't that. Roxas coughed awkwardly, the circumstances had somehow changed to an air of calm and composed scene. For the first time in his life, Roxas had been stunned into silence. Sure, countless occasions he was silent by _choice _but he'd never been _forced _into silence.

Axel nervously fidgeted with his mug. Before launching once again into a frenzy of speech, obviously taking Roxas's lack of a response as a negative sign, and ineffectively attempting to saviour his dignity, "Don't get the wrong idea though." Axel snorted, "The only reason you were my motivation was so that we could reassume our little pranks-on-Roxas joke. And, by the way, kid, what the _hell _was up with you calling me _Ax_? Eugh! Don't even get me started. A nickname like that, fake or not, makes me come across as some sort of arrogant, rich, snobby..." Axel scratched his chin in thought, "Actually, that kind of fits... doesn't it?"

The self-insulting comment did the trick – and Roxas finally burst from his shell of silence, letting out a single quick, loud, cackle before immediately after stopping himself. He wouldn't allow himself to be caught laughing at the redhead. Even if what Axel had just said was truer than other's could imagine.

Axel had stopped his rant, and was now staring at Roxas with a mixture of awe and pride. _Shit_. Roxas then noted that he'd obviously not covered his laugh well at all, and Axel looked ready to explode with smugness in having made the blonde express amusement in his presence. The thing Roxas regretted and hated himself for the most, though, was the fact that it had been _genuine_.

That word alone was cringe worthy.

Roxas quickly shook his head, as if trying to silently deny he had just laughed. It was too weird. This was all too weird. The world become cruel and decided to make itself a complex conflagration. Roxas had just _laughed _at someone's joke who he _loathed. _What happened to black-and-white? Why was there suddenly a middle-ground? Since when... since when...?

And since when did Roxas, the considerably socially inept teenager, _allow_ recently met colleagues to sit comfortably in his house (even with the whole Sora excuse) without permission or ... hey, wait... how had Axel even gotten Roxas's address in the first place?

That sneaky little prick.

And _god dammit_ when did everything become so bloody complicated? Roxas was a simple kid, who grew up with a fairly simple life and was accustomed to simple things. He'd purposely gone to a job interview at Grenville Enterprises for the sake of doing _simple_ office work. Purely dependable, structured, boring, straightforward office work.

And then Axel had to come along and screw everything the hell up.

Roxas sighed, slapping a hand over his face and muttering, "Why me?"

---

**A/N: **Lol. I kind of noticed when reading over this chapter that Roxas is a bit of a little bitch, isn't he? Oh well, I find it kind of entertaining. Last day of school for term 1 tomorrow! HUZZAH!

As always, review and tell me what you think. :D

x jordan


	4. Finality

**Business Pressures:**

Disclaimer: ... i think youve got the idea now that i dont own kh.

**---**

Finality:  
The official end of financial year found Roxas at the Oblivion pub with Pence and Hayner in one of their rare gatherings. Surprisingly, Roxas had become quite inclined to come to this bar to let loose and had even befriended the same part-time working bartender he'd been served by the first time he'd ever entered the place. The mullet haired boy, Demyx.

"The usual, I presume?" Demyx called over the live band.

Roxas looked across at his friends, "What do you guys want?"

Hayner pulled a face, whilst reading the drinks menu, "Do I _look _like a cocktail guy to you? Just a beer."

"I'm not drinking." Pence said, "I've got to drive you guys home _plus _I have a lecture early tomorrow morning."

"Ok, two beers then, thanks Demyx." Roxas yelled, voice completely drowned out by the loud strumming of guitars. Thank god for Demyx's underrated talent of lip-reading for he merely nodded at Roxas's order and passed their drinks.

As Roxas and Hayner clumsily clinked glasses, Pence sourly eyed their drinks and childishly sulked.

"Why am I always the one who has to give you guys lifts?" he grumbled. Roxas guiltily sunk into his seat.  
Contrastingly, Hayner cockily retorted, "Well, that's a stupid question. You're the only one with a car's why."

"You're a real prick sometimes, Hayner, you know that?" Pence seethed.

"So I've been told..." Hayner chuckled.

"Lemme guess," Roxas quipped in, "yet another ex-girlfriend?"

"Is it a crime for me to so generously offer my glorious body for the use of attractive girls?" Hayner asked.

Pence, the ethically just one, scoffed, "It is if it leads to you cheating on Kairi."

"Maybe that's why no girl will even think of going near you now, huh?" Roxas offered.

"I reckon the drought's about to break soon boys." Hayner said slyly, "A nice little brunette just walked in with some friends. 12 o'clock."

Roxas and Pence attempted, and failed miserably, at trying to nonchalantly turned around and face the doorway of the pub.

A small group of attractive girls hovered in the doorway, and striking a pose in front of the clan, was the evident leader, Olette. Roxas felt the blood immediately flood to his cheeks.

"Quite the little number, isn't she?" Hayner watched his friends' faces confidently, "Shotgun. You guys have a choice of the leftovers."

"God, Hayner, the way you talk about girls makes them sound like unappealing food." Pence scolded.

Amidst their bickering, Roxas continued to blankly stare at Olette, slightly confused. Initially her overly-dramatic entrance had caused his chest to twist and then flutter painfully. But the after result was... nothing. He felt nothing for her. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. In fact Roxas was kind of ashamed, considering he'd seriously liked Olette for such a long time that it seemed near impossible for a mere night to fizzle his enormous crush on her down to nonexistence. He'd always considered himself one of serious long-term relationship potential. But, apparently his self-categorisation had failed him. Yet again.

The next half an hour passed at an agonising pace – consisting mainly of Pence and Roxas disgustedly watching Hayner gradually sidle up to Olette's left on the other side of the pub and begin to chat her up. When he received little to no compliance from her, he then proceeded to resort to the next most attractive girl, then the next, then the next... up until he dejectedly came back to the his bar stool and sat down, shooting his friends an icy don't-even-think-about-kidding-about-my-absolute-rejection glare.  
A comfortable silence fell over the trio, each left to their own devices and thoughts. At some point Roxas began absently daydreaming about sitting at home with Sora, until his thoughts were abruptly broken into when he felt a presence to his right at the bar.

"Raspberry vodka and a beer thanks, Dem, my man." An all too familiar voice cooed.

Roxas painfully peered over his shoulder, hoping, but deep down knowing the truth, that whoever he thought he had heard ordering some drinks had simply been part of his unpredictable daydreaming.

"No." Was all Roxas said when he spun around to face his neighbour, though having to crane his head upwards as he noted that indeed it was what he had feared and it was Axel leaning next to him at the bar.

Axel's eyes suddenly widened in recognition, and then it slowly dawned on Roxas that there was the possibility that Axel hadn't come to the bar with the sole intent on pestering him. Considering that it had been Axel's favourite pub long before Roxas's, the probability was quite high.

Roxas grimaced as Axel continued to look at him, now he really felt like an idiot, and he knew Axel wouldn't let him forget it.

"Relax," Axel purred, clearly somewhat intoxicated. Roxas was able to smell a strong stench of alcohol coming the redhead, "I'm here on a date."

He then gestured across the pub to a corner booth, where an attractive athletic girl sat.

"Her name's Tifa." Axel said proudly, "She's pretty damn special." He sloppily waved at Tifa who replied by giggling drunkenly and uncoordinatedly waved back, hitting the backs of some customers' heads in the process.

"Wow." Roxas managed, noticing his heart perform what would've been considered a spectacular feat of flip-flops had it been visible. _Oh god, not again. _Roxas internally groaned, having again found himself to have established a childish crush on yet another poor girl.

"I know, right?" Axel chuckled, his bloodshot eyes glinting brightly.

"Where did you meet her?" Roxas asked, cursing himself for having just initiated a proper conversation with Axel.

"At some party or other..." Axel peered down at Roxas, "... Why do you care?"

"I don't!" Roxas hastily responded, before spitefully saying, "I'm just thinking she must be _pretty damn special _if you can't even remember where you first met her."

Axel snorted, but didn't get riled up by Roxas' bait, slowly saying, "I was just so amazed by her that I kind of forgot everything else around me... It's like, nothing else mattered."

Roxas blinked a couple of times. He'd never pinned Axel as such a soppy romantic. It didn't seem to agree with the rest of his character – like mixing oil and vinegar.

"Hey, kid," Axel nudged Roxas a little harder than was necessary, "If you ever feel something for someone, don't let it slip." He said, sounding oddly wise, "I'd been an idiot if I gave up Tifa."  
**  
**Feeling he had said enough, Axel gave Roxas a small nod of goodbye and then, picking up the drinks Demyx had placed ready on the counter for him a short while ago, fended his way through the crowd of customers back towards the corner booth. Roxas continued to watch as Tifa wrapped her arms around Axel's shoulders and giggled at something witty he must have said.

Tearing his eyes away from the couple with great difficulty, Roxas turned back to Pence and Hayner, who were now talking sports, as if nothing had happened.

"God, do only have the one pub in the whole town?" Roxas asked.

Both of his friends turned towards him, with blank facial expressions.

"Why, do you know people here, Roxas?" Pence queried.

"Any girls you can introduce me to?" Hayner jumped in, eagerly.

"Shut up, Hayner." Pence snapped, "For god sake stop thinking about getting laid." He then turned to fix Roxas with a curious look, "You were saying, Roxas?"

But Roxas's mind had already strayed to thoughts concerning firstly Olette and then subsequently Tifa and Axel. He shortly responded, "Oh, no, nothing. Don't worry about it." ---The week proceeding Roxas's outing with Pence and Hayner at _Oblivion, _Roxas was incredibly jealous. Tifa was by any means, a very attractive girl. She had a pretty face and a very athletic body – which were the two key physical attributes to being eye-catching to any male... her decent sized breasts, were probably a contributing factor as well, but Roxas decided he wouldn't count them as he classified himself a non-perverted male.

At the rare occasions Axel wandered past Roxas's cubicle to enter Zexion's office, Roxas would watch the lanky older male, wondering how on earth he had gotten a catch like Tifa. It didn't add up – Tifa probably had a queue of more appropriate guys lining up for a date with her... and yet she'd picked a guy like Axel? Maybe she went for the whole sharp, clever, teasing thing. Needing to clear his head, one afternoon after work, Roxas found himself outside the library. He didn't have any pressing work to complete, so was curious as to why his feet had lead himself there of all places.

_Might as well go in now that I'm here._

Roxas strolled through the automatic doors, his hands in his pockets, and was close to the bookshelves when a voice called out.

"Roxas! _Hey _Roxas!"

Roxas spun around. It was Olette. She was waving exuberantly at him from the reception desk. He'd managed to walk straight past without even noticing her presence. He hadn't been able to do that since, well, ever since he'd first met her. Roxas reluctantly walked back over to her, deciding a good chat with Olette might be just what he needed, knowing he no longer held any attraction to the girl.

"Hiya Roxas!" Olette chirped, beaming at Roxas, "How are you?"

"Fine. How are you?" Roxas noticed his voice seemed to have resumed its normal pitch and calm speed when he talked to Olette now, in comparison to when he used to get incredibly flustered around her.

"Oh, I'm ok, I guess. Been a bit bored..." Roxas absentminded stared into Olette's green eyes, and the first thing came to mind was the same shade of Axel's. Axel and Tifa. It was a strange mix. With immense effort, Roxas brought his mind back to the present and continued to listen to what Olette was saying, "... We could hang out sometime."

"Sorry?"

Olette looked slightly downheartedly at Roxas's lack of attention, "I was saying we could hang out sometime... what do you think?" If it had been any other time, Roxas would have jumped at the opportunity to spend some quality time with Olette, but as it was now... he felt awfully blasé about it. She then did a funny fluttering of her eyes at him.

"Is there something wrong with your eye, Olette?"

"What?" she squeaked, "No! I just..." she then turned very pink from embarrassment at this point and busied herself with pretending to type something on the computer. Roxas knew she was pretending, as from the angle he was positioned at he could still see that the monitor was switched off. It was kind of funny, as it reminded Roxas of the way he used to act around Axel.

"It was good seeing you, Olette." Roxas said, feeling there was nothing more to say between the two of them.

"Oh... ok then, Roxas." Olette replied, "Will I see you on Wednesday? You always come to the library on Wednesdays."

"Um, don't think so this week, sorry." Roxas bid her farewell and then had no choice but to proceed out of the library.

_That went swimmingly. _Roxas sarcastically thought to himself.

---

By the following week, Roxas was slowly driving himself insane with thoughts of Tifa. If only he could contact her and talk to her, then maybe he could settle this ridiculous obsession he had with her. It was more than Roxas had ever felt for a girl. Like ten times the feelings he had had for Olette. Either he would go forth and get the girl or get turned down – either way resulting in a calming of his raging hormones.

This is why, very late on a Friday night, Roxas stayed back at work, waiting for every last person on the floor to exit the building. Finally, by 11pm, Zexion left, yawning widely and Roxas was free to unlock and search through the personal files cabinets without being told off and punished for not having a permission or suitable reason to be searching for Axel's address.

It took all of 10 minutes for Roxas to eventually locate Axel's file – discovering he lived in a deluxe apartment owned by Grenville Enterprises. Roxas nodded resolutely. Now all he had to do was badger Axel and find out what Tifa's number was and ask her out. It was all but sorted.

---

While standing outside Axel's apartment, Roxas for an instant considered leaving, but then quickly knocked and thought it best to just suck it up and see through what he was here for.

Footsteps sounded from the other side of the door, and then Axel answered, opening the door wide enough for Roxas to immediately see that there were others who looked around Axel's age in the apartment. Two girls with blonde hair (though one looked much friendlier than the other) and a silver haired boy stared at him curiously. None of their expression came close to Axel's though, who looked utterly shell-shocked that Roxas had hunted him down and managed to find his address.

After an awkward moment or two of silence, Axel turned to his friends and shooed them out of his apartment, though not to a lack of protest. Roxas wandered into the hallway of Axel's apartment as Axel all but physically shoved his friends down the corridor.

"Seriously, get out. Riku, shut up and stop laughing. See you later, Namine, Larxene."

When the door finally clicked shut with a snap, Axel turned around and looked expectantly at Roxas, as if waiting for some sort of snide remark from the blonde. Roxas considered this a fairly understandable conclusion for Axel to jump to, as since when did Roxas ever be nice to him?

Without so much as a hello, Roxas wordlessly tackled Axel to the floor and pinned him to the ground, with one leg resting of either side of the redhead.  
"Tell me about your date Tifa." He demanded, angrily, "Where does she live? What's her number? Is she _really _that interested in you?"

Axel didn't answer, but simply smirked smugly up at Roxas.**  
**  
"_What?_" Roxas asked.

Axel propped himself up onto his elbows, leaning close to the blonde, "Green's not really your colour, Roxas."

"What are you implying you – _mmph!_" Axel crushed his lips to Roxas's, silencing him, and then managed to roll himself on top of the blonde, presenting himself in a dominant position. It was like someone had switched a light on in Roxas's mind. All his thoughts and feelings towards Tifa hadn't been romantic – they had been full of jealously. He had never been envious of Axel for getting Tifa, it had been the exact reverse. He had been jealous of _Tifa_ as she was his competition for Axel.

"You're not drunk this time, are you?" the redhead then asked pulling away, half-joking and half-serious.

"You wish." Roxas squeaked, as Axel's hand wandered under his shirts to trace locations it had probably been before.

"Surprisingly I don't," Axel growled huskily, "Didn't I ever tell you that being bossed around is an incredible turn on for me?"

"No..."

Axel flashed Roxas his default Cheshire grin, and for the first time since Roxas had met him, he didn't find it deterring at all, "Must've slipped my mind..."

In a frenzy of ripping of clothes as quickly as they both could, and Axel managing to touch any part of the blonde's bare body he could, Roxas then forgot how to speak all together.

---

Afterward, lying in a tangle of bed sheets on the floor, Axel rolled onto his left side to face the blonde next to him and languidly laughed to Roxas, "I really owe Tifa for this."

Roxas raised a slim inquisitive brow, "Huh?"

Axel grinned guiltily, before beginning his confession, "Well, she's my friend from years back. She came to town and I hadn't seen her in ages so we went out for a couple of drinks... I then saw you at the bar and told her that I might have to pretend we were on a date... heh."

Roxas glared daggers at him.

"I knew you'd get jealous." Axel grinned arrogantly to himself, "So it worked, didn't it?"

Roxas sighed and lightly shoved the redhead's arm before beaming at him, "Yeah... I suppose it did."

-THE END-

---  
**  
A/N: **and so it's finished. Sorry for such an abrupt ending. But my exams are coming up. I've got 3 weeks of school left and then i'm finished forever! OMG!!! i know you all hate me cos im lazy as when it comes to writing things, as i take like months and months to write a new chapter. So i thought if i finished this one, i would be giving you all some sense of closure.

:D


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